I just read an article about how people here in SK uses IE because of some outdated law etc...wtv the reasons.

My question is, for Koreans that purchase stuff on a non-Korean website do they still have to use internet explorer? For example, if they wanted to purchase a membership to the New York Times Online or something would they still have to use IE or could they use Chrome or something?

Just curious how this all works...somewhat interesting for a slow work week. I almost never use IE. What about on their phones, like Galaxy Tab..is IE even a part of that? Hmm....

I just read an article about how people here in SK uses IE because of some outdated law etc...wtv the reasons.

My question is, for Koreans that purchase stuff on a non-Korean website do they still have to use internet explorer? For example, if they wanted to purchase a membership to the New York Times Online or something would they still have to use IE or could they use Chrome or something?

Just curious how this all works...somewhat interesting for a slow work week. I almost never use IE. What about on their phones, like Galaxy Tab..is IE even a part of that? Hmm....

I'm not sure how there could be a law that forces people to use a certain internet browser. I reckon you'd be safe using Chome or Firefox to buy from foreign websites.

I do know in China that IE6 is by far the most common browser due to the protocols websites use. Sometimes you do have to switch to IE6 when it comes to payment. But that's nothing to do with government and laws.

"The problems of monopolies arising through network effects, and the negative effects of the lock-in that results, are familiar enough. But it's rare to come across an entire nation suffering the consequences of both quite so clearly as South Korea, which finds itself in this situation thanks to a really unfortunate decision made by its government some years back:
At the end of the 1990s, Korea developed its own encryption technology, SEED, with the aim of securing e-commerce. Users must supply a digital certificate, protected by a personal password, for any online transaction in order to prove their identity. For Web sites to be able to verify the certificates, the technology requires users to install a Microsoft ActiveX plug-in.
The trouble is ActiveX is only supported on one platform: Microsoft Windows. As a result, when the South Korean government made the technology mandatory for online e-commerce, the entire South Korean Internet sector become enslaved to Internet Explorer:
It forced consumers to use Internet Explorer because it was the only browser ActiveX plug-ins were compatible with. By default, Web developers optimized not only banking and shopping Web sites for Internet Explorer, but all Web sites. For developers, this just seemed logical. The result has been a decade-long monopoly in the Korean market, where virtually all Korean Web sites are optimized for Internet Explorer.
Eventually, the South Korean government noticed that it was totally out of step with the rest of the world in effectively forbidding important alternative technologies like iPhones or Android, and took steps to remedy the situation:
A bylaw was created that said government Web sites must accommodate at least three different Web browsers and in 2010 they withdrew the mandate governing the use of ActiveX plug-ins.

But there was a catch.

If a company wants to stop using ActiveX plug-ins, it has to use an alternative technology that offers the same level of insurance. To get approval to use such a technology, they have to get approval from a government appraisal committee. The committee was formed over a year ago and has yet to make a single approval.
So even though the possibility of using something other than ActiveX is there, in practice there are simply no other options for secure transactions. A choice taken a decade ago to standardize on one technology has locked an entire nation into that platform, and it's proving extremely hard to escape."

I've used Firefox since around 2000. I've worked in Korea and VN. I've had no problems accessing bank accounts in both countries and Canada during that time. I can pay pay bills on-line in Canada but I cannot do that in Korea or VN. They won't allow me to transfer money on-line for any reason. It had nothing to do with my web browser.

Nobody uses IE any more. Chrome and Firefox overtook that piece of crap many years ago. Not using IE is a very important part if not a first step in a modern personal internet security regime.